팩트체크 뉴스에서 발생하는 가짜뉴스의 효과에 관한 연구: 정파적 수용자의 불인정 편향을 중심으로

초록

Fake news has spread with the rise of online platforms that produce news and the increasing difficulty of verifying the accuracy of all information. The growth of social media has further accelerated the production and dissemination of fake news. This study aimed to examine, through a quasi-experimental approach, how the effects of fake news － specifically, hostile media perception － influence disconfirmation bias under fact-checking conditions, and how this bias ultimately affects trust in the media. The key findings are as follows. First, the effects of fake news varied depending on individuals’ directional motivations: partisan audiences tended to feel stronger hostility toward media perceived as opposing their views. This hostility, in turn, heightened disconfirmation bias － the tendency to disbelieve even verified corrective information that identifies false news. Furthermore, this disconfirmation bias negatively affected trust in mainstream media, including outlets perceived as hostile. The higher the disconfirmation bias, the stronger the distrust partisan audiences held toward mainstream journalism. Therefore, media trust may further decline due to the combined effects of partisan bias within the media and disconfirmation bias among audiences. In this context, both newsroom-led fact-checking and existing independent fact-checking services face limitations in restoring media credibility. This is because audiences’ preexisting beliefs are influenced less by whether the information is true or false, and more by who conducted the fact-checking. As an alternative solution to restore trust in journalism, this study proposes the establishment of a “Public Fact-Checking Organization.”

키워드